Oopsy babies changed Sylvie Fox's mind about romance

Oopsy babies changed Sylvie Fox's mind about romance

Ha. Bet that headline sounds as though Sylvie Fox, author of In the Nick of Time (out today), wrestled with her very own unplanned pregnancies on her journey to writing a novel about one. I just did that to get your attention, though the headline IS accurate. See, Sylvie discovered something interesting about unplanned pregnancies in general, which led her down her current path. I’ll let her explain …

Sylvie: Until a fateful day a few years ago, I was one of those people. For the first 23 years that I read romance, I’d see those little cherubic infant and toddler faces, swollen bellies, and happy family scenes on books, and I’d walk the other way. That’s right, I studiously avoided romance novels with babies. Occasionally one or two snuck in there, but if it had a baby on the cover, I would not read it.

No secret babies, precocious preschoolers, or chock full o’children epilogues for me. Babies aren’t romantic, I thought. Babies do not equal happily ever after. After all, I’d grown up in the heyday of divorce. Kids did not keep families together. Heck, I was a divorce lawyer for five years, and I never saw a baby become the crazy glue for a couple.

But then one startling statistic changed my world view: nearly 50% of pregnancies in the United States are unplanned. That’s right, one-half. If you took a survey of adults in my house, 100% of our mother’s pregnancies would be labeled accidental: I was conceived on a Puerto Rican vacation where birth control was apparently unavailable. My husband, in the back of a Volkswagen bus (c’mon, it was the 1970s). But I’d always thought we were the exception.

Many years ago, when I was in my last year of college, I agreed to take part in a decades-long study on work, career and family conducted by a professor from Quinnipiac University. Every year she would send us a new survey, and I would fill it out dutifully without much thought. Then one year, I got curious. I asked the professor to send me one of the papers she had published. I don’t remember anything else about the paper except that no matter how you slice it, half the pregnancies in this country are unplanned. I remember jumping up from the kitchen counter, abandoning my morning caffeine jolt and running upstairs to the computer in my office. It couldn’t be true, I thought. Surely something as monumental as having a baby had to be planned by most people.

Research made me a believer. The professor’s study reflected the truth according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — and a million other websites. I read with fascination how various psychologists and statisticians couched their own questions to tease out this reality of conception. And the truth is, half of us in this country came to this earth as happy accidents.

This singular revelation changed what I thought of romances, forever. Of course, the only way anyone can get pregnant is through unprotected sex. Suddenly, the debates in romance novels about condoms and birth control took on greater meaning. No matter where one comes down on that debate, the fact is that birth control use in romance is often as capricious as it is in real life. Some authors always have characters use it, some never do, and the rest walk the line in between.

So the next time I was sitting at the computer thinking about what I wanted to write, the professor’s research was in the back of my mind. And In the Nick of Time was born, so to speak.

I wrote the one book I’d spent nearly 25 years avoiding reading. I had one question in my mind: What happens when an unexpected pregnancy interrupts the slow build of a new and budding relationship? If my editor’s comments are anything to go by, it’s a messy, bumpy ride to happily ever after for the hero and heroine, Nick and Holly.

I’m also happy to say, writing this book has widened my romance reading as well. No longer do I avoid baby covers and baby titles. My own journey as a writer finally got me to stop judging a book by its cover — for the most part. I still don’t do kilts.

Here’s the blurb for In the Nick of Time (courtesy of Crimson Romance):

Hot nights, huge consequences. Divorced and done with her dry spell, Holly Prentice is ready to get back in the game. But with two conditions: Her future mate can’t be married to his career, and he has to have a couch. Nick Andreis loves his job, and his only furniture is a king-size bed. He’s also single, sexy, and six years Holly’s junior. Any guy this hunky and carefree can’t be serious about the future.

After one spontaneous and explosive night, Holly decides that her search for Mr. Right can wait. Nick can be Mr. Right Now.

Nick has waited years for Holly. Now that she’s dating again, he’s determined to be the only man in her life. He wants what Holly wants: forever. Convincing her of that won’t be easy, but Nick agrees — with fingers crossed behind his back — to Holly’s idea that they can be bed buddies until someone serious comes along. His plan: Use the time between their passionate nights to convince her that he is the one.

Will Holly’s unexpected pregnancy change the rules of their games? Or can they both decide to play for keeps?

To find out more about Sylvie and her books, you can visit her website, www.sylviefox.com.